Team Herald
VASCO: Chicalim and Velsao-Pale-Issorcim and panchayats have decided to convene special gram sabhas to reject the declaration of their villages as urban areas.
The Chicalim Panchayat has issued a notice convening an extraordinary gram sabha on February 9. The meeting will discuss the inclusion of the village in the urban areas list and the notification notifying 56 villages as urban areas.
Chicalim has been at the forefront in recent times in promoting its own bottom up planning process. The Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) prepares by the villagers was replicated by other villages.
The villagers have also prepared their own land use plan and landmass register to be incorporated into the Mormugao PDA planning process. Recently, they have completed their Peoples Biodiversity Register and adopted it at a special gram sabha. It was followed by the formation of the Village Development Committee at an ordinary gram sabha.
In addition, efforts have been initiated by the Biodiversity Heritage Site Committee of the panchayat to declare the village as a heritage site in view of the unique features that the village possesses such as the ecologically sensitive Chicalim Bay where windowpane oysters breed and the megalithic underground pits and natural caves, exquisite flora and fauna.
The villagers fear that all their efforts towards a sustainable development of their village may go in vain through this “draconian” act of the government.
Some villagers claim that their hard work to promote and protect their village, its unique biodiversity and heritage will be doomed by the classification of Chicalim as an urban area with reduced CRZ rules.
Meanwhile, the Velsao special gram sabha on February 23 will discuss the inclusion of Pale in the list of urban areas.
The special gram sabha will also discuss the installation of a mobile tower on the panchayat ghar/market complex. But a major issue for discussion will be declaration of Pale as urban area.
A notice has been issued convening an extraordinary gram sabha and the points listed on the agenda include “to reject the inclusion of Pale from the list” and “to reject the notification of 56 villages as urban areas.”
